Page 3845 - Week 09 - Wednesday, 24 August 2011
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improving understanding between Australians of diverse religious and cultural backgrounds.
Eight awards were given that night, and I am pleased to say that, of the eight awards, five of them were won by residents of the ACT. In the category of interfaith dialogue, Professor James Haire, the Executive Director of the Australian Centre for Christianity and Culture, was the recipient of that award. In the area of public service, Senator Kate Lundy won that award. For the ACT Community Award, Mr Sam Wong, the Chair of the Canberra Multicultural Community Forum and well known to all of us, was the recipient in that class. For services to the Muslim community, Imam Ahmed Yousef, the cofounder of the Canberra Islamic Centre and quite a long-term resident, was the recipient of that award. And there was a youth category where Mr Kamran Siddique, the founder and President of ANU Muslims Association, was the recipient in that class.
There were three other awards: in the academic category, Professor Greg Barton, the Herb Feith research professor for the study of Indonesia at Monash University, was the recipient; for the media award, Mr Barney Zwartz, the Age religious editor, was the recipient; and in the category of education, Mr Mehmet Ozalp, author and lecturer of Islamic studies at the Charles Sturt University, was the recipient of that award.
It was a great night. I think all of those who attended enjoyed not just the company but the food. The speeches were of a particularly high standard, and Bluestar is to be congratulated for putting on the awards. It is important, I think, in this day and age with some of the misrepresentation of the Muslim faith and particularly the Koran to quote some words from Professor Greg Barton who said:
… in the past decade, terrorism that has rocked the World and in particular Europe, knows no boundaries. I can say from my expertise that terror has no nationality or religion. Even the Qur’an says clearly that killing an innocent person is as if you have killed the whole of humanity.
For those that have not been able to get to an Iftar meal, there are a couple more to go, and if you are free at 5.30 on Friday this week, there is a diversity and dialogue dinner at the Catholic Church’s Rheinberger Centre at 5.30 in Yarralumla, and all are welcome.
Question resolved in the affirmative.
The Assembly adjourned at 7.24 pm.
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